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From: sinnott@iastate.edu (Sinnott Susan Buthaina)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: Why Allah?
Message-ID: <1991May10.134337.7563@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 10 May 91 13:43:37 GMT
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	I disagree with Christy's post on the translation of the word 
Allah to God when switching from Arabic to English.  She stated that we
should translate as little as possible and that God refers to himself as
Allah in the Qu'ran, and therefore we should refer to Him by that word.
The reson He refers to Himself as Allah in the Qu'ran, is because the 
Qu'ran is in ARABIC!  In that language, Allah means the One True God.
In English, if you which to refer to a pagan god, you use the word with
the little "g".  When you are referring to the One True God, you use the
big "G".  God cannot mean many "gods and goddesses", by definition.  The
Muslim God is the same as the Jewish God of Moses and the God of Jesus.
Allah is the Arabic word for God, not a NAME.


Susan Sinnott